The present invention relates to treatment of eye conditions caused by a loss of acuity where the origin of that loss is in the retina or brain and not of a refractive/transparent nature. Of particular concern is the treatment of the eye condition known as amblyopia.
Persons afflicted with amblyopia suffer from a mild to acute acuity loss in at least one of their eyes. This condition occurs despite a lack of evident structural change in the eye itself.
The only accepted treatment for amblyopia is the use of "patch therapy" during early childhood. This is usually attempted between the ages of a few months and about nine years.
Patch therapy involves covering the non-affected eye of the child and forcing the child to function using only the affected eye. However, if patch therapy provides no benefit by 9 years of age, the condition is deemed incurable.
Although patch therapy does have a good rate of success, it is far from a perfect method of treatment. First, it fails to cure every subject and thus leaves many children and adults without hope of treatment or improvement. Moreover, an unfortunate by-product of use of patch therapy for all subjects can be exposing the child to extreme frustration and danger. Many of these persons are legally blind in their affected eye (e.g. visual acuity of 20/200), and it is both cruel and unwise to force them to venture out into a highly visual world armed with little or no sight.
Concerned over the problems and shortcomings of patch therapy, the inventors embarked on an entirely different course of treatment. Attempting to stimulate the affected eye and its related portion of the brain, the inventors utilized absolute minimal stimulation. This is accomplished by visually and audibly isolating the subject. The theory is that the affected portion of the affected eye and its related portion of the brain must be coerced into functioning and this can only be accomplished by giving the person virtually nothing to observe except a small, barely visible and barely readable target. This treatment has proven effective, even on an adolescent subject who had previously been deemed incurable after 5 years of patch therapy that failed and was terminated at the age of 8.
In light of the foregoing, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for improving visual acuity by isolating the subject and producing minimal visual input.
It is a further object of the present invention to use the aforesaid apparatus as a therapeutic means for treating and curing amblyopia and render classic patch therapy obsolete for all subjects regardless of age.
Moreover, it is an object of the present invention to provide the therapeutic value of this invention in a simple, inexpensive and fully portable apparatus.